As I mentioned in an earlier post, I make a lot of chicken during the week for my kids at dinnertime. It’s easy, inexpensive and can often be prepared ahead of time. Lately, I’ve been craving the warm spices of Indian food, and so this week, my kids were treated to a new chicken dish – Bombay Chile and Cilantro Chicken, marinated with lots of warm spices, including coriander, black pepper, cumin, and cayenne. I chose this recipe from over 1,400 recipes in The Essential New York Times Cookbook by Amanda Hesser.

This is definitely a dish that can be started early in the day or the night before, then thrown on the grill or broiled just before dinnertime. I marinated the chicken in the morning, cooked everything before I headed out the door to pick my son up from school, and just reheated it as soon as we walked in the door an hour later. Served with a bright Cilantro Sauce, this is a unique, flavorful chicken dish that I will be making again. To go with this spicy chicken dish, I made some Indian Lemon Rice using brown rice, and Spinach Thoran (I had picked up some leafy green vegetables from the local Indian supermarket that were labeled “phoi leaves”, that looked like New Zealand Spinach).

This week, a group of bloggers is celebrating Amanda Hesser, one of the 50 Women Game Changers in Food. Amanda Hesser is a New York Times food writer, and co-founder (with Merrill Staub) of the food community Food 52, full of recipes, photos, and contests for foodies. In addition to writing over 750 stories for the New York Times, Amanda has written the award-winning books Cooking for Mr. Latte and The Cook and the Gardener. Her latest book is The Essential New York Times Cookbook, a New York Time bestseller and the winner of a James Beard award in 2011.

It took five years of work before The Essential New York Times Cookbook was published. It’s no wonder…Amanda took on this project right after she gave birth to twins, and cooked her way through 1,400 some odd recipes, along with her partner in crime, Merrill Stubbs and others. They spent hundreds of weekends and evenings testing recipes, “eating triumphant and failed dinners, and doing dishes late into the night.” According to Amanda, her twins, Walker and Addie, were raised on the recipes in this cookbook, first as purees, later as solids. Wouldn’t I have loved to be one of her kids!

The last New York Times Cookbook was written by Craig Claiborne and originally published in 1961, covering a decade of recipes. This new New York Times Cookbook by Amanda Hesser includes the most noteworthy recipes all the way from the 1850’s!

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If you’re interested in joining our group as we cook our way through this list of 50 influential women in food, just ask Mary from One Perfect Bite.

Please stop by and take a look at what the rest of the group made this week in celebration of Amanda Hesser:

What a great looking plate of chicken! I’m drawn to the warm Indian spices at this time of year, too. Indian cooking used to intimidate me, because I didn’t know much about it and every recipe seemed to have such a long list of spices. But once you have your pantry stocked, the cooking becomes much easier.

I agree Lydia, with the weather getting cooler, I’ve been craving warm spices and soups. I too was intimidated by Indian cooking a few years back, but once I accumulated some of the common Indian spices, it did make cooking Indian food so much easier.

Wow, this sounds like it is absolutely packed with fabulous flavor…and I love the sound of the cilantro sauce, as well. I think I could probably cook through that book for years and still find something new to all the time…it’s such a tome! Beautiful photos, too 😀

This chicken does have lots of flavor and spice, and the cilantro sauce is definitely worth making. There are so many recipes in this cookbook, it took me a long time to decide which recipe to highlight.

What a gorgeous recipe. I would absolutely love this for dinner tonight. Your family is most fortunate. That sauce is other-worldly good. This was a perfect choice for this weeks tribute to the fabulous fifty. Have a great weekend.Blessings…Mary

Indian food really isn’t that hard to make once you stock up on a few of the spices. I used to be intimidated by all the different spices, but after making a bunch of Indian recipes, I feel much more comfortable making Indian food. My kids love it too, so I’m glad I learned how to make a few dishes, including this dish.